Browsing by Subject "techno-ambivalence"

With a series of modern movements taking place during the past decade, scholars have studied the relationship between social media and social movements using mainly the techno-optimism (Shirky, 2008; Castell, 2012) or techno-pessimism approach (Gladwell, 2010). This thesis investigates the role of social media in relation to social movement organization in the context of the Hong Kong Umbrella Movement using the techno-ambivalent approach (Kidd and McIntosh, 2016). In an attempt to answer the main research question, the research design involved examining different media and communication sources used by stakeholders of various functions for social movement organization during the Hong Kong Umbrella Movement. The research methodology consisted of virtual ethnography and online questionnaire for data collection, contextualized transmedia mobilization (Lin, 2017) and media and information praxis of social movements (Lee and Ting, 2015) for data analysis methods. Results of the ethnographic and survey studies suggested a hybrid media and communication system was in place in the social movement organization of the Hong Kong Umbrella Movement. The entwinement is demonstrated with respondents utilizing new media for its strengths and in addition strategically employed traditional media, mobile personal networks, and in-person communication to compensate its shortcomings.